Jefferson Parish Schools superintendent Diane Roussel was awake at 3 a.m. trying to decide whether she would join Orleans Parish schools in cancelling class because of a weak tropical system. By 5 a.m. she had made up her mind -- school would open as planned.

"That was the last chance I had to call school off," Roussel said as she greeted students at J.C. Ellis Elementary School in Metairie.

Ted JacksonWhile students and moms sort through their desks and school supplies, first grade teacher Beatriz Alcazar Perez gives an enthusiastic hug and smile to each student entering her classroom on the first day of school at J.C. Ellis Elementary School in Metairie.

Because of the weather, Roussel said she expected a large number of no-shows, and as a result, those students would not be counted as absent.

At Ellis, children filed into school and headed to their classrooms, where their teachers welcomed them with big smiles. Outside, second grade teacher Terri Ridgely helped students off busses, equally happy to see them after the two-and-half-month summer break.

"Hello, my girl, you got so big," she said to one student.

"Look at you, you've got braces," she said to another.

School officials won't have an official enrollment count until Oct. 1 but expect about 44,000 to 45,000 students this year.